Liverpool City Council has set forth the next steps in the long journey to deliver a new film studio and TV studio in the City.
A report, which will go to the Council’s Cabinet next Friday (December 3), is requesting permission to unlock a potential £70M to redevelop the iconicLittlewoodsbuilding, which would include studios, creative office space and new media facilities.
Former art-deco headquarters of theLittlewoodsempire has been vacant for decades and is in a state of dilapidation, including fire damage in 2018.
The report sets out proposals to kick-start the long-gestating redevelopment in two phases, with approval being sought to begin an £8M remediation of the building in early 2022.
If approved, phase one funding will come from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and be granted to developers Capital&Centric to carry out site investigations, remediation and main scheme design works.
The £8m required is part of a wider £17M funding package previously agreed by the Combined Authority, £3M of which has already delivered The Depot studios, which are located on an adjoining plot.
Phase 1 will take around a year. Once phase 2 is completed, it could lead to an entire development contract.
For phase two to proceed a fully-costed funding package is required, with the council and combined authority projecting to both invest £12M and a commercial lender being sought for the balance.
The scheme, which would be subject to planning permission, already has two proposed major anchor tenants – Twickenham Studios and Liverpool John Moores University.
Once completed, theLittlewoodsStudios scheme would comprise of 85,000 sq ft of studio and ancillary space for Twickenham Film Studios, to be operated by TIME+SPACE Studios.
There would be 75,000 sq ft of education space for Liverpool John Moores University’s skills and training facility Entertainment Technology Centre. The plan is for a further 95,000 sq ft of flexible employment space for creative industries, which will be advertised to market for expressions of interest.
LittlewoodsStudios would complement the recently completed Council and Combined Authority funded studio, known as ‘The Depot’. The Liverpool Film Office managed the temporary filming sites of 20,000 sq.ft. They opened last month and have received a number of bookings from various clients, according to the council.
The city of Liverpool is currently hosting productions such as Sky’s Funny Girl starring Gemma Arterton and Channel 4’s The CurseThe team behind People do nothing. It also recently invested in and supported Channel 4’sHelp starring Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham, BBC’s The Responder starring Martin Freeman and ITV’s adaptation of The Ipcress DataThrough its LCR Production Fund.
The BBC’s sixth series of Peaky Blinders, Doctor Who, Ridley Road, and movies such as Warner Bros’ The Batman and Netflix’s Munich: The Edge of WarLiverpool was also used for filming.